The Contentment of Faith

Read Hebrews 11:8-28

The topic that I have been assigned for this conference is that of “The Contentment of Faith.”

The passage before us this morning is a written example of just that. The life of faith as it finds its contentment in something more than either the individual pieces or the sum total of all life’s experiences.

Verse 8-22 give us a snapshot of the life of Abraham, the father of the Faithful, and His family. Verses 23-28 tell us of the faith of Moses, the receiver of the Covenants, the law, and the mediator of that Old Covenant.

Abraham, the chosen patriarch and God-Ordained originator of the people of Israel, exhibited the kind of faithful following of the Lord that became the progenitor of our idea of Justification by Faith.

Moses pictures all that it means to stand before God on behalf of a people, something that Christ does for us in a better and perfect way.

Abraham pictures our stand before God, which is on the basis of faith. As Genesis 15:6 records, and Paul later quotes from in Romans 4:3, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

Justification by Faith - that is the theme of this entire meeting. That was the article, Luther said, on which the church rises and falls. We have heard great words already, both last evening and this morning, on just what that faith is.

The characters in our text, starting with Abraham, serve then, as pictures and examples, not just of the idea of faith, but of faith in motion - faith in practice. Living faith. Hebrews 11 is, in essence, the bridge between Paul and James - who are not at odds, but simply speaking of two sides of the same glorious coin. Two facets of the same shining diamond. Two portraits - Paul picturing the family crest and coat of arms emblazened with its matter-of-fact legitimacy, and James, picturing the life of the family, children and parents living out their lives under the mantle that crest is perched on.

Yes, In the case of our text today, Abraham, his family, and Moses, picture for us the kind of faith that finds contentment in the Lord alone. And as I began to study this passage, I noticed that this kind of contentment is not a contentment of resignation, or a contentment of settling, as though faith produced a sub-par existence to which we have to resign. Rather, the life of faith is a life of both contentment and holy discontentment.

That may, at first, sound like a contradiction, but it really is a parallel, an antinomy. Contentment and Holy Discontentment.

By faith, the characters in this text exhibited contentment to endure the circumstances that were given to them in God’s Providence, all the while experiencing a holy discontentment and yearning for the better to come.

Of contentment and holy discontentment, we can agree with the Apostle Paul on both fronts, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” Phil. 4:11b and “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Rom. 8:18

A life of faithful discipleship doesn’t preclude difficult circumstances but finds rest within them, anticipating the fulness of rest and deliverance to come. The life of faith is a life consisting of both contentment and holy discontentment.

1. Contentment to Act Faithfully - Vs. 8-12

A Holy Discontent with the Status Quo

In these verses, both Abraham and Sarah are pictured as those who acted faithfully.

We should carefully define that. Acting faithfully is choosing, by faith, to follow and obey the Lord, regardless of inner and outer influences that would call us to do otherwise.

This is where that holy discontentment came from. Abraham could have contentedly stayed in his homeland of Ur. All records indicate that he had a comfortable life, a comfortable existence. He was, in terms of possessions and livestock, a wealthy man. He had no human or logical reason to leave home and country to go to a place which he didn’t even know of, yet, faithfully, he acted.

God accepted his belief - the heart condition that existed even before one step was taken. Abraham’s Faith before God was that he believed the promises and the call. The faithful action which flowed from that heart was the obedience that followed. The obedience that carried Aged Abraham and his wife and family on a journey to a promised land, a land which was yet undefined.

From home to tents, from comfort to uncertainty, from settled to sojourner, all by faith.

Abraham is a precursor to Paul’s words in the truest sense.

Philippians 4:11–12 ESV

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

The fairy-tale stories which we imagine, the dreams of culture and success are rags to riches stories. However, sometimes the contentment to act faithfully looks more like riches to rags - at least in the temporary sense.

Abraham had a holy discontentment with remaining in his comfort. An urging to go, even against all odds. Why? Because his discontentment was a yearning for a better city - better than Ur, better than his settled existence.

Better, because this city - metaphorical not just for the promised land, but for the picture of eternity that the promised land gives, this city has foundations - its foundations are in the fact that it is a God-ordained, God-promised, and God-procured place.

Sarah, too experienced this in her own unique way. As an old woman, we are told that Sarah received, by faith, the power to conceive a child. She was, not just by assumption, but by the record of scripture, past the age of ability to conceive. Yet, through faith, she conceived.

Of course, this was a work of God - but in a very real sense, it was an act of faith also. The conception, the carrying of the baby, and the starting of that family tree was an example of faithfulness.

An example of faithfulness in believing and trusting the Lord, and en example of the end in which faith rests - that God kept His promise. And that is exactly the reason we are given - Sarah had faith because she determined that the one who promised was faithful.

And isn’t that a lesson for us? Is God’s call to go out, to act faithfully a worthy call? It is! It is! Why? Not because we are sure of ourselves in taking that plunge, but because we are assured of the faithfulness of He who promised!

2 Timothy 1:12 (ESV)

But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

2. Contentment to Die Faithfully - Vs. 13-16

A Holy Discontentment with Despair

Verse 13 gives the testimony that these all died in faith.

Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac, and many of those original descendants died before the physical promise of the promised land was fully reached, and they also died before the continual promises were reached.

Abraham was promised that his offspring would attain to the number of the stars and to the sand.

Abraham was promised that in his seed, all the nations of the earth would be blessed, a promise that wouldn’t find its fulness until the Savior came.

Looking ahead, Abraham, Sarah, and their family all died before seeing the ultimate One that seed would produce, the Man Christ Jesus - yet, they died in faith.

Literally, they died with an eye to faith. Their death, so to speak, was part of their faithfulness.

They died faithfully because they died, not with their eyes backward to Ur, backward to their established home, but they died with their eyes forward as strangers and sojourners.

They “acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles” - and, as verse 14 makes clear, those who come to terms with that also make it clear that their hope is not in their former home, but in their coming home. They make it clear - perhaps by their speech and intention, but by their faithful devotion to the promise and the promise-maker, it can be seen.

They had a holy discontentment with despair - because, reaching their dying days, when their breathing became heavier and harder, when their speech began to depart, they didn’t curse their decision to follow the Lord - they simply said, “we haven’t made it home yet.”

Abraham and his family faced a multitude of difficulties, yet even to their dying days - even in their death, they did so faithfully.

The descriptor of their faithfulness is breathtaking - God is not ashamed to be called their God.

In other words, They trusted - and though they didn’t receive the promises on earth, that was not a failure. That was not an embarrassment. That was not a faux pa - that was a testimony of what God has done.

They died according to their faith. They died in faith.

In one sense, you could say that they did “with their faith.” However, their faith did not die with them, because they were looking toward that better country.

You may not have many faithful actions left in you, but you have one big one if the Lord tarries - and that is to die well. To die with your faith.

Sampson, last measure of strength, more slain in his dying than living.

Maybe that is you - perhaps you consider that you have not been the most faithful, but in your latter years Christ has called you to himself, and to faithfulness, and you say, “lord, there is not much left, my days are failing, my breaths are shorter, but might I die faithfully for you and act more faithfully in my dying than I did in my living!”

Dear one, do you exhibit this ultimate faith in the Lord? Do you believe the Lord, when he says to His disciples

John 14:2–3 ESV

In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

The promise of “i will” is as sure as the “if.” “If I Go… I will come again.”

Beloved, do you eschew despair? Do you refuse to wring your hands in worry and shame because you haven’t seen the fulness of the promise yet, because the cares of this world seem to grow worse and more wearisome? Or do you make it clear, by your words and your living, that you are seeking a homeland - and while you are called to live faithfully and righteously here, you refuse to make this life your ultimate hope?

3. Contentment to Hope Faithfully - Vs. 17-22

A Holy Discontentment with Indifference

This section gives a series of faithful incidences, and each one of them has an aye to faithful hope, and to the future.

vs. 17-19, Abraham faithfully obeyed God in being willing to offer up his only son. This was done, as Hebrews records, with the sincere belief that even if Isaac was slain, that God was able to raise Him up - because God had promised that through Isaac Abraham’s offspring would continue.

Vs. 20, tells of Isaac, who with an eye to the future, invoked blessings as the living patriarch of the family, speaking faithfully into the future.

Vs. 21, Jacob did the same, only with the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Mannasseh. This was a nod and acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty and his preserving faithfulness, as it was through Joseph’s sojourning and life in Egypt that he produced these two sons, and it was because of Joseph’s sojourning in Egypt that God preserved all the family of Isaac alive. Jacob trusted that the Lord who preserved his family would continue to bless even in the future.

Vs. 22, Joseph, looking all the way back to the promise to his forefather Abraham, gave direction to his children to take his bones with them when they left, because He knew that Egypt was not their forever home, but that God had a promise to keep.

All of these men lived in less-than-fulfilled experience of God’s leading, yet they all hoped faithfully in the future of God’s promises, and refused to be indifferent.

What does it mean to hope faithfully? It may be more advantageous to discuss what it means to be unfaithful in our hope.

- For one, there is a kind of hope that glorifies the Lord only when hope is received. You may have heard, or even made, promises such as, “Lord, if you will do this, then I will praise you!” Or, “If you fulfill this dream of mine, then I will serve you!” This is not faithful hope, but wishful thinking.

This is the kind of hope that predicates God’s goodness on the fulfillment of our wishes, rather than predicating the legitimacy of our wishes on the goodness of God and on His work.

Abraham could have said, “I will offer up Isaac if you provide me with another Son!” But rather, he willingly went to offer Isaac, knowing that he was the only son.

Another way to be unfaithful in our hope is to take the attitude of “it is what it is.”

Often a denouncement of those who hold a high view of God’s Sovereignty is that we leave everything up to determinism, that we don’t have any regard for urgency in prayer and mission.

May that never be so! May we be the first to hope valiantly in the Lord’s promises, and rather than bowing our heads and saying, “it is what it is, the Lord is in control.” May we say, Our Lord is in control! May we live faithfully and hope exceedingly in His good character!

May we live, in this life, as those who are sovereignly placed here on earth to represent and tell of this Great God! May we never be content with indifference - as if nothing we do matters. Rather, in the Lord’s providence and sovereign plan, what we do matters greatly! He has ordained it to be such.

Where the Lord calls us to action or righteousness or witness, may we not foolishly say, “If the Lord wills, he will accomplish it.” May we rather say, the Lord wills this! Let us serve Him by His grace and through His Strength!

1 Corinthians 15:10 ESV

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

May we look faithfully with an eye to hope, with an eye to what the Lord will do, with an eye to the work of His Spirit among the children of men, and then may we faithfully say, “In our hope, we will serve Him.”

4. Contentment to Live Faithfully - Vs. 23-26

A Holy Discontentment with Fear and Pleasure

We turn then, from Abraham’s family, to the life of Moses and His Parents.

Moses’ parents are the quintessential behind-the-scenes faithful ones. They saw the edict of Pharaoh, that every boy child under a certain age should be killed. Yet, with an eye to the child’s beauty, they acted faithfully and courageously.

That is a marvelous statement, isn’t it? “They saw the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the King’s Edict.”

That is, the majesty of the creator, the beauty and intricacy of his design, the wonder and amazement of the gift of life overtook them, and they couldn’t simply resign themselves to obey the wicked edict of the king to preserve their own life.

They had no true idea of what the Lord would do with their son, they acted faithfully in ignorance of how He would deliver their entire people through that little one. Yet, they acted faithfully still. Faithfulness in simplicity.

Faithfulness that disregarded the fear of the current pressure.

How this kind of faithfulness might resound in our culture, in our day! Where the pressure of the moment, the urge of the wind of the day might be to bow to the King’s edict, whatever we might represent that to be. Whatever it is, if it is a call do dishonor the Lord, may we not fear the King’s Edict! May we see that what the Lord has done and will do is beautiful. Whether it is for the life of the unborn, the sanctity of marriage and God’s design, the call of the Gospel, or to one day defy an ordinance against worship, may we not fear the King’s edict but rather gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.

Theirs was a holy discontentment with fear, and the child Moses, who was saved by their faithfulness, his was a holy discontentment with pleasure.

Moses, in God’s way of saving Him, was raised in the home of a king. From the son of slaves to the residence of Pharaoh, Moses was afforded the opportunity to altogether escape the repugnant state of His true family, the Israelites.

But, by faith, Moses courageously left the air of royalty and luxury to be numbered with the slaves from which he came.

He did this, of course, with an eye to the plight of his people, with an eye to their mistreatment and woes. But he also did this, Hebrews tells us, because he was looking to the reward of being faithful to the Lord.

A reward for faithfulness rather than the pleasures of sin. Pleasures which, we read, are fleeting.

The pleasures are fleeting, the reward is enduring.

Moses is a picture of Christ in so many ways, but in this way, when he lowered himself to the form of a servant, became subject to the very ridicule and treatment he could have easily avoided, taking on the reproach of his people in order to deliver them - Christ became Moses in a way that Moses could never do.

Philippians 2:5–8 ESV

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

There has never a person started so high as the height of Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Godhead - not even Moses in Pharaoh’s house had such a lofty place. And simultaneously, there has never a person bounded so low as the Son of Man became in His incarnation - not even Moses’ in his descent back to slavery. Never so High, never so low. This is Christ.

And still, the call of Philippians to is to “let this mind be in you...”

Will you despise the temporary pleasure for enduring joy, enduring glory of following Christ? Will you find a holy discontentment with fear and pleasure, and find rather your contentment in a life lived faithfully, following Christ even to the lowest lows, knowing that only He can exalt you in due time?

5. Contentment to Leave Faithfully - Vs. 27-28

A Holy Discontentment with Bondage

By faith, Moses left his place of royalty, and led his people to leave their place of slavery.

Here again, we see that same rejoinder of faithfulness and courage in the face of fear and opposition.

We also see an example of faithful worship and obedience in the first passover.

In a very real sense, Moses and the Israelites had a discontentment with their plight in Egypt. It was not a discontentment that stemmed just from their human discomfort, though, it was a discontentment stemming from the fact that God called them out of Egypt.

In spreading the blood of the lamb on the doorposts and lintels of their Egyptian homes, the people were obediently displaying their hope in the God who would deliver them, not only from the death of the plague, but from their plight of bondage.

In the same way, dear one, Christ, our passover lamb has been shed, and the call of His Gospel goes out to those in bondage. We, like the Israelite slaves in Egypt, are slaves to our own passions, our own desires, and laboring day in and day out in a system that could not deliver us.

Titus 3:3–5 ESV

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

Dear one, do you know this holy discontentment with sin, with that bondage?

If you do, run to Christ! The entirety of the letter to the Hebrews is a masterful exhortation of how Christ is the true and better deliverer. He is the true and better Abraham, though Abraham was faithful, Christ is The Faithful and true One. Christ is the true and better Moses. Though Moses obeyed and delivered his people from Egypt, truly, Christ is the deliverer of those who come to him by faith!

Jesus is the Divine Summit of God’s plan of Deliverance, of redemption. Have you placed your faith in Him? It is by faith alone, not by works of the law, or works of our own degree that we are ultimately redeemed.

And Christian, In your walk of life, do you find this Holy Discontentment with your indwelling sin? Do you find this holy discontentment to “give up,” to say, “it is what it is!” And do you rather find contentment in following Christ, in His Promises, to live and hope and act and die faithfully, because the one who has promised is faithful?

The Life of the Christian is that of Contentment and Holy Discontentment. We are content in whatever the Lord brings us to, but we writhe in holy discontentment with sin and unrighteousness until the day of our ultimate deliverance, which comes through that true passover Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ.

May we faithfully find our contentment only in Him.